27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Romans 3:27-31 KJV)
Boasting Excluded
This also brings glory to God because boasting is excluded (Romans 3:27). God wants the great work of justifying and saving sinners to be done in a way that excludes boasting, so that no person can boast in his presence (1 Corinthians 1:29-31). If justification were by the works of the law, boasting would not be excluded. We could put the crown on our own heads. But the “law of faith”—the way of justification by faith—forever excludes boasting. Faith is a grace that depends on and empties the self, and it casts every crown before the throne. Therefore, it is most for God’s glory that we are justified this way. He speaks of the “law of faith” because believers are not left without a law. Faith is a working principle, but because it acts in a complete dependence on Jesus Christ, it excludes boasting. From all this, he concludes in Romans 3:28 that “a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”
In the conclusion of the chapter, he shows that the privilege of justification by faith is not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles, because, as he said in Romans 3:22, there is no difference. He proves this by asking, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also?” (Romans 3:29). The idea that a God of infinite love and mercy would limit his favor to that small, perverse people of the Jews, leaving all other people in an eternally desperate state, would be absurd. It would not agree with what we know about divine goodness, for “his tender mercies are over all his works.” Therefore, it is “one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (Romans 3:30). Both are justified in the exact same way.
He also addresses an objection, as if this doctrine would nullify the law, which they knew came from God. “By no means!” he says, “Rather, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31). Although we say the law will not justify us, we are not saying it was given for no reason. Instead, we uphold the proper use of the law and secure its purpose. The law is still useful to convict us of our past sins and to guide us for the future. Although we cannot be saved by it as a covenant, we recognize it and submit to it as a rule in the hand of the Mediator, secondary to the law of grace. In this way, we are so far from overturning the law that we are establishing it. Those who deny the moral law’s obligation on believers should consider this.